Rolling mill apparatus



' April 28,1970 J.- A B ETAL 3,508,42

ROLLING MILL APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 22, 1967 BY J THE! Apr i128, 1970' -(muav. ETAL I 3,508,426

ROLLING MILL APPARATUS Fi led. May 22, 1967 v v 2 Shee'hS- Sheei. 2

INVENTORS JACK-MALT Y & BY CHARL s e ULDING THE| ATTORNEY United States Patent ROLLING MILL APPARATUS Jack .Maltby and Charles Goulding, Shelfield, England, assignors to Davy and-United Engineering Company Limited, Sheflield, England Filed May 22, 1967, Ser. No. 640,020

Claims priority, application Great Britain, May 20, 1966,

Int. Cl. B21b 31/10 US. Cl. 72--238 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This disclosure relates to a device for locking a rolling mill chock against movement relative to its associated roll when the roll and the chocks, in position on the roll, are out of the mill. The device which is attached to the chock includes a brake shoe and a cam for locking the bralke shoe to prevent the chock from turning about the rol T-shaped work roll chocks have characteristics which generally favour their use, over rectangular shaped chocks, in rolling mills. In a mill each upper T-shaped chock is disposed with the web of the T vertical andthe flanges at the top of the web. The neck of the work roll is received in a bore in each of the chocks at right-angles to the T-shape. A disadvantage of such a chock arises from its unequal distribution of weight in relation to the axis of the roll-.abont which it is free to swing when the roll and chocks are out of the mill and the chocks are free of the restraint ofiered by the mill housings. Thus, even if the check is moved only slightly from its symmetrical position the relatively heavy flange part will tend to swing to below the axis of the roll. This may well happen when the roll is'partially in and partially out of the mill stand, causing the roll and chock assembly to be jammed in the housing. This sort of situation is very diflicult to deal with in that even if there is a further crane available other than the shop crane which is bearing the roll, the further crane cannot simply be positioned to ease the assembly free as it will be baulked by the shop crane which is already over the mill stand.

One way of overcoming this difficulty of chock swing is to place rails in the mill housings to limit swing of the chocks during entry or exit from the stand. However, this arrangement will not, of course, prevent the chocks swinging when they are clear of the mill and it is the usual practice for two men to walk alongside the chock holding it in its desired position with the flanges uppermost.

According to the invention, a device for locking a T- shaped rolling mill chock comprises braking means, means for locking the braking means against turning movement of the chock about the roll, and means for releasing the locking means. 1

The release means are preferably arranged so that on rotation of the roll in the mill they release the locking means automatically. The device then has the desirable characteristic that it can be put into effect initially by an operator on removal of the roll from the mill, but it is not necessary to ensure that he operates the release means when the roll returned to the mill.

The braking means can include a brake shoe, with its lining, mounted on the chock and co-operating with a surface on a neck of the roll, i.e. normally on a roll neck adjusting nut, the shoe being biased, e.g. by being spring loaded, toward braking contact with the surface.

With such a braking means the locking means can include a cam which is movable by a lever from a position in which the cam holds the brake lining spaced from a 3,508,426 Patented Apr. 28, 1970 the braking means is off. Preferably the release means I push the cam to an over-centre position when the spring loading causes the lever to snap back to its original position where it is clear of the release means so that the latter do not brush the lever on each revolution of the roll.,

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example, with reference to the drawings accompanying the provisional specification, in which:

FIGURE 1 shows a chock brake device according to the present invention in position on a T-shaped upper work roll chock of a 4-high mill, no roll being shown;

FIGURE 2 is a part-front elevation and a part-section taken on the line A-A of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 3 is a section on the line BB of FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 4 is a part-plan and a part-section taken on the line CC of FIGURE 2.

In FIGURE 1 the braking and locking means 1 of the device are shown attached to the outboard side of one chock 2 of a pair of chocks which bear the necks of the upper work roll of a 4-high mill. Release means 4 for the locking means are as shown in FIGURE 3, disposed on the roll neck adjusting nut 29 which rotates in an anticlockwise direction in the mill as viewed in FIGURE 1. A similar device (not shown) is disposed on the other chock and roll neck adjusting nut, allowance being made for the clockwise rotation of this other roll neck when viewed from its end.

The braking and locking means 1 have a back plate 5 which is secured by bolts 6 and by pins 7 to a plate 8 and a conventional retaining ring 9 for the chock. The plate 8 holds a conventional seal '10 in position between the work roll 3 and the ring 9.

Two spring pods 11 are welded to the back plate 5 or the back plate and brake pods can be a single casting as shown. Helical springs 12 of which only one is shown in FIGURE 2 and which are held within the pods 11 act on a brake shoe 13, provided with a brake lining 14, slidable in channels 15 in the two pods. Studs 17 which are disposed along the axes of the springs both have abutment nuts 16 screwed onto their upper ends and secured by split pins 18, the nuts normally being spaced from the tops of the pods 11. Each stud 17 is threadably engaged at its other end with the brake shoe 13.

A front plate 19 is secured by bolts 20 to the other side of the pods 11 and is parallel to the back plate 5.

This front plate has a central bore, at. right-angles to the plate, carrying oiless bronze bearings 21 and the back plate 5 has a corresponding bore with similar bearings 22. The bearings 21 and 22 receive a shaft 23 which can be turned in the bearings by a lever 24 which is secured to the outer end of the shaft by a pin 25. The lever 24 carries a cam 26 which is received in a central opening 27 in the brake shoe 13.

The brake lining 14 is associated for braking with a machined band 28 on a conventional roll neck adjusting nut 29 of the roll 3.

Also secured to the adjusting nut 29, as shown in FIGURE 3, are the release means 4 which consist of an L-shaped striker 30 welded to a base plate 31 which is attached to the adjusting nut by bolts of which one bolt 32 is shown in FIGURE 3. The upright part 30A of the striker is displaced to the side of the braking means 1 and therefore does not contact it as the roll turns; the

overhanging portion 30B on the other hand extends radially of the roll with its end positioned to pass over and adjacent to the end of the shaft 23, as the roll rotates.

In order to keep the band 28 free of unwanted dirt, a wiper 33 is fitted to one of the spring pods 11 which leads the remaining pod in relation to the direction of rotation of the roll 3. The wiper 33 has a mounting plate 34 which is attached to the associated pod by bolts 35 and a wiper head 36 is fixed to the bottom of the plate 34 also by bolts one of which is bolt 37, the wiper head making wiping contact with the band 2-8.

The operation of the device will now be described. When the upper work roll 3 and its chocks are in their operative position in the mill stand and the device is in its non-braking condition, the lever 24 is in a horizontal position, shown in full lines in FIGURE 2. In this position the cam 26 bears against the uppermost face of the opening 27 in the brake shoe 13, and thus holds the brake shoe 13 against the action of springs 12 in an elevated position. In that position the lining 14 is spaced from the band 3 and the nuts 16 are at their maximum distance from the associated brake pods 11.

When the upper work roll is to be moved, with its chocks, out of the stand, the lever 24 is moved by hand clockwise to a vertical position which is shown in broken line in FIGURE 2. This change moves the cam through 90 and out of contact with the brake shoe 13, allowing the shoe to be moved against the band 28 by the coil springs 12. In this position the lining 14 makes braking contact with the band 28 and chock 2 is therefore prevented from swinging about the roll when moved out of the stand.

Although the nuts 16 move with the brake shoe they are so positioned on the studs 17 that they do not come into contact with the top of the pods 11 unless the brake lining 14 becomes so worn that it requires replacement. When the nuts contact the top of the pods they prevent any further movement under the influence of the springs 12 toward band 28 of the brake shoe and its lining, and so the lining is prevented from any further wear and cannot be worn down completely, thus obviating any possibility of direct contact between the metal of the brake shoes and the metal surface of the band 28.

The replacement roll and chocks which are to be brought into the stand are also provided with the present devices and before they are moved, with the chocks in the appropriate position, the lining 14 of each is brought into braking contact with the band 28 as described above in relation to the roll and chocks to be removed from the mill.

When the new roll and its chocks have been placed in the mill stand there is ,no need for the lever 24 to be returned manually anti-clockwise from its vertical position to its horizontal position Where the cam 26 lifts the brake lining 14 free of the band 28 as this is carried out automatically. The roll can be started turning without releasing the brake linings contact with the band, the mill power easily overcoming the relatively small drag of the lining on the band. However, after at the most one revolution of the roll, the striker 30 will contact the still vertical lever 24 and move it anti-clockwise so that the cam 26 turns to a slightly over-centre position where, due to its shape, it will snap back under the spring loading to its original position with the lever 24 spaced well below the free end vof the striker as it moves above the lever on each subsequent revolution of the roll and with the cam 26 causing the brake lining 14 to be held away from the band 28.

Thus, the device which has been particularly described has the very desirable characteristic that although it is put into operation manually it is nevertheless returned to an inoperative position automatically and so reliance need not be placed on a workman for the release step, it being much easier to ensure that the brake is applied initially by a Workman than released by him subsequently since the roll can still revolve in the stand with the brake on. Furthermore, the device is small and compact and can be fitted not in newly designed mills but also in existing mills.

What is claimed is:

1. A device for locking a T-shaped rolling mill chock to a roll neck comprising braking means, means for locking the braking means against turning movement of the chock about the roll, and means for releasing the locking means.

2. A device according to claim 1 wherein the release means is arranged so that on rotation of the roll in the mill the release means releases the locking means automatically.

3. A device according to claim 1 wherein the braking means includes a brake shoe, with its lining, mounted on the chock and co-operating with a surface on a neck of the roll, the shoe being biased toward braking contact with the surface.

4. A deviceaccording to claim 3 wherein the bias is by spring loading.

5. A device according to claim 3 wherein the locking means includes a cam which is movable by a lever from a position in which the cam holds the brake lining spaced from the surface against the action of the bias, to a position in which the brake shoe is free of the cam to contact the surface under the influence of the bias. I

6. A device according to claim 5 including an adjusting nut andwherein the release means is arranged on the said adjusting nut so that the means automatically strikes the lever to move the cam to the position in which the brake shoe is free of the cam.

7. A device according to claim 6 wherein the device is arranged so that the release means pushes the cam to an over-centre position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS CHARLES W. LANHAM, Primary Examiner B. J. MUSTAIKIS, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 188-166 

